Tips for getting medicine into a 2 year old.

[lighthouse26]

Hi everyone

DD has bacterial tonsillitis. She has been poorly with a high fever. She's not eating and is taking very small amounts of liquid.

She's been prescribed antibiotics, also giving her paracetamol and ibuprofen.

Any tips on getting this into her. We have talked to her about how it will make her better. She becomes hysterical and starts choking or she can tell we have hidden it.

So far we have tried:
-Syringe
-Medicine spoon
-A little cup for medicine

• aimed at the side of her mouth near her cheek

-tried small amounts/big amounts -We have tried to encourage her to do it herself

• hidden in milkshake
• hidden in a range of juices

-added honey She's not eating so can't hide it in anything food wise. Is there any tricks im missing?

have you tried cadbury pots of joy very strong chocolaty taste very hard for a child to resist .Smooth puddings may work

unfortunately not much you can do just try different things to try hide it in

@rosydreams no I haven't! Thanks. I will grab some tomorrow and give these a go. She's doesn't like yoghurts or jelly so can't add it to that.

i remember how much of a picky eater my eldest was oml it was fun with giving her piriton thankfully chocolate milk seemed to covered the taste .Just look at pudding type things see whats the sweetest thing you can find or drinks theres got to be something that can hide the taste

The best tips I ever read on here were to wrap a towel around their torso so their arms were pinned down, aim for back of tbe cheek and then immediately blow on their face as it causes a swallow mechanism.

It’s so stressful but you do just need to get it down her. The time for talking about how much good it’ll do has passed.

Mixed with chocolate ice cream.

What antibiotic is it?

If something milder like amoxicillin, then I'd go for trying to disguise it.
But there is absolutely no disguising flucloxacillin - it's absolutely vile. There's no choice but to just pin her down, or ask for something else.

Does she have a dummy? You can get dummies that have a little lid you can open to put medicine into. I found this great for my son as the dummy calmed him.

amzn.eu/d/aNovCQk

Wrap her in a blanket, pinning her arms. One adult holds her firmly on their lap, holding legs between their legs, one arm wrapped around them in their blanket. Second arm used to pin their head against the adults chest so they can’t turn their head away.
When she opens her mouth adult 2 syringes the medicine towards her throat so that she can’t spit it out.
just get it done. The more you try and explain, plead or reason the more hysterical she will become. If you have a treat for afterwards even better.
it feels awful but once they accept there is no choice, they are much more accepting and you can complete the course.

give her pain relief half an hour before giving antibiotics.

chocolate, jelly babies, ice cream (whatever she prefers) as reward.

hope she recovers swiftly

I mixed DDs into Nutella at about that age when I got desperate!